The present invention is directed to a scraper blade for a conveyor belt cleaner, and in particular to a scraper blade including a plurality of elongate flutes that form a generally corrugated scraping surface having a serrated scraping edge.
Conveyors transport various types of bulk material such as sand, grain, coal and ores on a rotating conveyor belt. Conveyor belt cleaners are used to remove conveyed material that remains adhered to the rotating conveyor belt after the remainder of the conveyed material has been discharged. Prior conveyor belt cleaners include scraper blades which have a generally linear scraping edge that engages the belt. The linear scraping edge of prior conveyor belt cleaner scraper blades engages the outer surface of the conveyor belt transversely, at a ninety degree angle, to the direction of travel of the conveyor belt. As the scraping edge of prior scraper blades extends linearly from a first end of the scraping edge to a second end of the scraping edge, the length of the scraping edge is as short as is possible.
A scraper blade for a conveyor belt cleaner. The scraper blade includes a mounting base adapted to be attached to the cross shaft of the conveyor belt cleaner and a scraping tip attached to and extending outwardly from the mounting base. One or more resilient biasing members are located within the mounting base and are adapted to provide pivotal movement of the scraping tip with respect to the mounting base. The scraping tip includes a bottom end and a top end, a front surface extending from the bottom end to a first edge at the top end, and a rear surface extending from the bottom end to a second edge at the top end. The first edge is adapted to be placed in scraping engagement with a conveyor belt along the entire length of the first edge. An end wall extends between the first edge and the second edge. The first edge of the front surface extends between a first end and a second end and has a generally serrated configuration. The front surface of the scraping tip includes a plurality of flutes extending from the first edge toward the bottom end of the scraping tip such that the front surface has a generally corrugated configuration. The front surface of the scraping tip includes one or more elongate ridges and one or more elongate valleys that extend from the first edge toward the bottom end of the scraping tip, wherein each valley is located adjacent to a respective ridge. The ridges and the valleys of the front surface may be generally V-shaped or generally U-shaped. The second edge of the rear surface of the scraping tip may be generally linear or may have a generally serrated configuration. The rear surface of the scraping tip may include a plurality of flutes extending from the second edge toward the bottom end of the scraping tip such that the rear surface has a generally corrugated configuration with one or more elongate ridges and one or more elongate valleys. The ridges of the front surface are generally aligned with the valleys of the rear surface, and the valleys of the front surface are generally aligned with the ridges of the rear surface, such that the scraping tip has a generally uniform thickness between the front surface and the rear surface.